Though one live a hundred years without seeing the immortal path, better is a single day of life for one who sees the immortal path.

Amataṃ padaṃ — the immortal path: amata (immortal, deathless) is one of the most important terms for nibbana. Pada is the path, the track. Nibbana as immortal path: not as a static destination but as the path that leads beyond death.

Apassaṃ amataṃ padaṃ — without seeing the immortal path: a hundred years lived without glimpsing nibbana, without even momentarily touching the dimension of the deathless — a life filled yet incomplete in the deepest sense.

Passato amataṃ padaṃ — for one who sees the immortal path: a single day in which the practitioner has direct vision of nibbana — the “first glimpse” of sotāpatti (stream entry) — is of incalculable value.

This verse elevates the comparative series to its culmination: from virtue and meditation (110-112), through impermanence (113), to vision of nibbana itself (114).